complaints from Jerome about a lack of support and funding for the musical education of choirs. It would seem that there was no professional relationship in his life that did not sour due to Hopkins' general tendency to insist on his righteous and stubborn belief that he was correct in all matters musical and that his opinions must be recognized as valid or someone would suffer the consequences. His emphatic and dramatic mannerisms early made Jerome enemies in the New York arts circles and it became common practice for the writers at The New York Times to comment upon his fiery temper and overly proud demeanor. Taking up a regular habit of writing frequent letters to the editor at the Times, Hopkins attempted to champion musical education and the cultivation of a uniquely American musical flavor. He spared no one, however, in his public letters and leading figures of the day were called out for their lack of support of the Arts. Some took serious offense, and one member of the Rockefeller family eventually threatened to sue Hopkins for defamation of character. One of the more volatile and public events precipitated by Hopkins' tendency to offend came after he had gifted a young lady living in Vermont, some acquaintance of his youth, with a book of poetry. The lady's fiance apparently took great offense at the gift of the book, as some passages had been noted and he felt that the passages were "...obscene and filthy". The young man confronted Jerome at his home and attacked him with a leather strap, leaving marks across his face and injuring one of his hands. Hopkins tried to press charges but only succeeded in bringing a civil suit against the man. During the case, Jerome stated that the book had been marked by someone else long before he came upon it and that "...in any case, only a filthy mind would consider such poetry filthy..." The work in question was a collection of poems written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Having already become a figure of some public notice due to his outspoken nature and rather unusual methods of persuasion, much was written by Hopkins supporters and detractors alike about the case and about the farce he had made of the events. He won his case, receiving payment from the man for injuries and slander. That was not enough to satisfy Hopkins, though. Taking